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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat next year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I plan to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to change. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been growing tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to